Behind three goals apiece from Nick Hale ’16, Jeff Hagen ’18, and Ratimir Babic ’17, the men’s water polo team handed No. 19 Navy a 12-8 loss on Oct. 4.

“Playing against Navy is always exciting, especially at the home pool, in front of our amazing crowd. The fact that we lost a few weeks ago at their pool made us want this win even more and gave us incentive to work even harder during practice,” Stefan Aleksic ’16 said.

Grant Curry ’18 chipped in with two goals while tying Hagen with four ejections. The Bison drew 11 total ejections. Aleksic had one goal and four assists for a team-high five points. The defensive effort was led by Keegan Williams’s ’15 who registered nine saves.

“We played great as a team last weekend and that is the reason we beat Navy by four goals. Our defense worked phenomenally, which is the reason why they scored only eight goals. As for the offense, I think it is great that multiple people scored multiple goals. We showed that we can score from outside and from the center position, which is great for us and it shows that we are multidimensional team,” Williams said.

The four goals in the first quarter for the Orange and Blue put them ahead, and they never trailed in the contest. The squad made history in its dominant effort against Navy, as the win marked the largest victory by the Bison over the Midshipmen in 33 years. This was also the Bison’s third win over a ranked opponent this season.

“We always have big expectations coming into every game. We have been working very hard this season and I think that we are talented enough to beat any team on the East Coast. I think we were able to put all of the pieces together, and come out strong as a team, and that is the reason we played very good and beat Navy,” Aleksic said.

The Bison improved to 6-6 overall and 4-3 in CWPA Southern Division play. They will be idle until Oct. 19 when they host Mercyhurst at 1 p.m.